My relationship with the Sauvignon Blanc grape is, as they say, complicated.  I find the grape, sometimes too aggressive and overly rich in the pyrazine compounds that can evoke, in my tender psyche, unpleasant aromas of pungent litter box (let’s be polite here), dill weed and eye-smarting grapefruit.  On the other hand, when it’s balanced just right, I can’t get enough!  But that balancing act is not easy.  In the Loire Valley’s Sancerre, for example, the soil does the trick, providing enough chalk and mineral elegance to temper the grape’s innate aggression.  In Bordeaux and other parts of the world, winemakers often add Semillon to provide the bass notes to offset Sauvignon’s shrill tenor.  In fact, my favorite Sauvignon Blanc-based wines usually have Semillon and even a little bit of wood in the mix too.  This broadens out the palate and lets the beautiful part of Sauvignon’s aromatics shine while masking those more aggressive ones.  But wines like my favorites from Graves in Bordeaux have become rare and expensive and I have to save them for only the most special of occasions. 

My trip to eastern Washington State, though, several years ago, revealed some very impressive Bordelaise-like Sauv Blanc-Semillon blends and I am pleased to present to you my very favorite.  I’ve long been familiar with Chris Upchurch’s reds- the Delille Estate and D2  They can out-Margaux even most Margauxs in terms of polish, elegance and punch.  But I’d forgotten how good his Chaleur Estate Blanc was.  Here Semillon constitutes a large percentage of the blend (30%) and adds considerable heft and mid-palate flavors of ripe pineapple, fig and fresh baked croissant to the spicier citrus and green peppercorn tones of the Sauvignon.  Oak plays a minor but important role in the wine’s really gorgeous texture and vanilla bean finish.  It’s a tight, tight trio that comes off as a seamless, beautiful whole that incited the cooks here among us to come up with a dozen dishes we thought would best showoff this wine’s considerable charms.  I know that I will be enjoying lots of it in lots of different ways over the coming four or five years!  I think the price is amazing too, and if your plans include anything from raw oysters to lobster rolls, you’d be well advised to have this plush, sexy white be a part of the party!  Very highly recommended.

 
International Wine Report:  Another fantastic vintage of this storied white wine from Delille Cellars, this time a combination of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Boasting a golden lemon core with a watery rim. Perfectly balanced notes of fresh gooseberry, white wildflower, freshly washed linen, dried pineapple, roasted peach, nutmeg, and just a hint of smoked lemon peel meld together with a full-body, phenomenal freshness, well-balanced levels of acidity, and a long finish that ends a bit spicy. Cellar this one for a decade or more. 95 points